Bethesda Details How Perks and SPECIAL Work in Fallout 4

In Fallout 4, how you assign points into your SPECIAL stats will affect what perks you can choose. SPECIAL is the group of seven stats that make the base for your character. At the start of the game, you will get 28 points to spread across Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, and Luck. The values of these stats can range from 1 to 10.

Similarly to Fallout 3, players will get one last chance before leaving the vault to modify their SPECIAL. Once out in the wasteland, players will level up via XP when they kill enemies, find new locations, and more. When a players level up, they get to choose a perk and its the perk system where Bethesda has changed things compared to Fallout 3.

The picture above (click it for a larger version) is a chart of the perks available in Fallout 4. Each perk is tied to a specific value of a specific SPECIAL stat. The player can select any perk that is at or below that current value of their SPECIAL. For example, if your Strength stat is 3, you can choose the Strength 1 perk, Strength 2 perk, or Strength 3 perk.

Each perk will do something a little different, and as expected, the higher level perks, like the Charisma 10 perk which allows you to control human enemies, are more powerful. Compare the Agility 1 perk which gives you 20 per cent more damage with pistols, to the Agility 10 perk which lands 25 per cent more damage to the 2nd target in VATS, regardless of what weapon you are choosing.

There is more, however, A large number of perks are actually mini-perk trees. This means that you can put multiple points into certain perks, increasing their awesomeness each time. Many of these levelled-up perks require you to be a certain level. Additionally, magazines and books can be found in the game, and they will award perks or perk upgrades to the player.

On top of this load of information, Bethesda has revealed even more. There is confirmation that there is no level cap in Fallout 4, and there will be different types of damage in the game – ballistic, energy, and radiation. Certain armor will be able to protect against certain damage better than others.

Fallout 4 is only a month and a bit away from release. It hits store shelves November 10th for Xbox One, PS4, and PC.